The proliferation of reliable and affordable broadband services allows for a greater number of people to enjoy computer or video games of various genres. For example in some computer games, players conquer territories of complete other missions for ever-increasing rewards. In many role-playing games (RPG) or first-person shooter (FPS) games, each player controls the actions of at least one character. In addition, players develop unique characters and by controlling the actions of the characters they create during gameplay, the players (via their characters) accumulate various objects and abilities through extended play. The rules for how quickly, how many and what type of abilities and objects a character may earn or gain usually involves several ratings or statistics. These ratings determine the outcome of various chance or future events that lead to new objects and abilities.
Along with the popularity of online gaming, demand for live streaming or pre-stored replays of video gameplay sessions has grown. Furthermore, many gamers are increasingly sharing their gameplay through social networks. In many game titles or genres, a video game player may compete against another player either in person or via an online platform. Many online games offer leaderboards which allow a player to judge how a particular game play session compared against other game players. Most leaderboards measure a level achieved and certain standard statistics, such as the amount of time played to achieve the level. Simple performance metrics are often used to display basic statistics on performance. Examples of such metrics include the number of kills, kill/death ratio, scores, achievements, timings, and levels passed. This data is sent by the game client running on the player's home console or personal computer (PC) to the leaderboards service hosted at the back end of the gaming system.
From a player's perspective, certain games may have an endpoint or hit a plateau where the player's enjoyment stagnates because the player has achieved the biggest challenge possible or has used all of the assets available to him or her in achieving an objective. Users may then want to try other games in the same genre, but they also have a tendency to be discouraged if they do not win or acquire any assets in a few consecutive games, if they are not able to play at a level they are accustomed to, if they perceive a game level to be too complex, or if the game rewards are not forthcoming.
Further, several players of a video game are not always engaged with the video game. Some players may play the game intermittently. Other players may visit the game website or use the game app only in rare instances. Especially in the smart device market segment, users are very time sensitive and tend to skip or switch to another game, application, channel or device webpage, whenever they do not feel engaged with a game.
Unlike real live action sports, where even an audience feels very involved in a game, spectators of online virtual games may not feel as engaged with the game. Conventional gaming systems are limited in the manner in which users can engage with or provide inputs on other users' gameplay. For example, commentary on a virtual game is typically performed by recording the gameplay as a media file, overlaying the speech of commentary on the recorded video and then sharing it. This is because the load on storage and network infrastructure imposed by live streaming of video gameplay sessions can be quite large, potentially causing delays and dissatisfaction for end users and maintenance problems for system administrators. Thus, having the users participate in a game as spectators or contribute to the game content in real time is very difficult. Thus, there is a need for systems and methods that maximize player engagement and retention and also improve the experience of playing and performing in video games for players.
There is also a need for systems and methods that encourage more participation and response from users who attend organized, live, multiplayer competitive video gaming events, also known as electronic sports or e-sports events, which are increasing in popularity. A large part of the audience still tends to prefer to watch matches in such competitions via internet streaming or television broadcast. The percentage of viewers who form a live audience can be low. As such, there is also a need for systems and methods that encourage live participation from viewers and that also keep online or remote spectators engaged. Such a system would not only allow the users to participate as spectators in video games, but also enable them to contribute towards the events or contents of the gameplay in real time. It is also desirable that such a video game system does not overload the storage and network infrastructure.